This is part of an effort to fill in the gaps for missing "save game" type tropes. I don't think this one needs examples, but I could be wrong.

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A save game, also called a save file or saved game, is stored information about a player's progress in a game. That file can then be loaded by the game software so that the player can restart the game from that point.

Save files have two uses. The first is to prevent all progress from being lost in the case of a Game Over. The second is to allow the player to quit the game and come back to it at a time of their choosing.

Save games are nigh universal in modern games that are too long to finish in a single session, especially Role Playing Games.

Subtropes:

(This will fill out as more of these come to YKTTW)

• Password Save: Rather than being stored digitally, a save game was rendered as a string of alphanumeric characters that represented the state of the game.
• Save Scumming
• Save Game Limits: Limits on how and where you can save the game.
  • Save Point: A specific location in the game where you can save your file.
    • Healing Checkpoint: The save point heals you.
    • Justified Save Point: A Save Point that has an in-game justification to exist.

See also Now Where Was I Going Again for when you come back to a saved game later and you've forgotten what you're supposed to do next.

For ways that saving can be limited, see Save Game Limits.

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